title: A correlative study on data from pork carcass and processed meat (Bauernspeck) for automatic estimation of chemical parameters by means of near-infrared spectroscopy.
abstract: The use of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is proposed in this study for the characterization of the quality parameters of a smoked and dry-cured meat product known as Bauernspeck (originally from Northern Italy), as well as of some technological traits of the pork carcass used for its manufacturing. In particular, NIRS is shown to successfully estimate several key quality parameters (including water activity, moisture, dry matter, ash and protein content), suggesting its suitability for real time application in replacement of expensive and time consuming chemical analysis. Furthermore, a correlative approach based on canonical correlation analysis was used to investigate the spectral regions that are mostly correlated to the characteristics of interest. The identification of these regions, which can be linked to the absorbance of the main functional chemical groups, is intended to provide a better understanding of the chemical structure of the substrate under investigation.
authors.affiliation: CAPE-Lab - Computer-Aided Process Engineering Laboratory, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padova, PD, Italy.
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boschetti
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ottavian
authors.forename: Pierantonio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Facco
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barolo
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Serva
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Balzan
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Novelli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D007558:Italy; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D008461:Meat Products / Q000032:analysis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*; D013552:Swine; D014867:Water / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D004044:Dietary Proteins; D014867:Water
keywords: Bauernspeck; Canonical correlation analysis; Food quality; Near-infrared spectroscopy; Partial least squares regression